Chapter 3

Things were looking up for me. Jimmy was a great friend, and Mary was a great cook and housekeeper. Not only that, Mary was very good looking and a very willing sex partner. She had been living with her parents, but she was happy to move in with us as soon as I asked her. She took care of Jimmy whenever he needed her, but she slept with me every night. She was 21 and I was 28, but she knew a whole lot more about sex than I ever did.

The second day after Jimmy and I had moved in, we got a visit from a delegation of townspeople and farmers from around the town. There were eight of them and we invited them in to sit in the cool of the living room. After the introductions and some small talk, they got down to business. One of them said, "Sirs, basically what we need to know is how you plan to protect your new territory and how much are you going to tax us?"

Jimmy spoke up, "We have no firm plans, yet, since we are still trying to find out who and what we have for resources. First off, we would like to operate with a local militia, instead of a bunch of hired thugs. If we can do that, taxes will be considerably lower."

That got a reaction from everybody. They all started to talk at once, but the first one who had asked the original question finally got the babble under control and asked what they all wanted to know. "If we have a militia, does that mean that you will let us have real guns and not just those shotguns with birdshot?"

"Of course, you will have real guns. We don't have but 16 AK-74s and 20 pistols, but we can get more when we need them. They will be issued, along with ammunition, for you to keep in your homes. You will be expected to use them for personal protection against any and all threats. The people of the militia will be trained in their use. I am a former Army officer, so I can train you in what you need to know. I don't know, yet, if the militia will be paid, that will have to be worked out. Again, that will influence the tax rate."

"Hell, with that incentive, you won't need to pay the militia anything. Just having guns and ammunition for protecting ourselves with be enough pay. When and where do we sign up?"

"Well, this is Wednesday. We need time for the word to get around, so let's have a general meeting on Wednesday of next week here in front of our house. Anybody interested in joining the militia should be here by 10:00 AM on Wednesday morning. How does that sound?"

"Shit, you can bet the whole town will be here!"

"OK, let's leave it at that right now. Let's defer the subject of taxes until after the militia gets set up. OK?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Boss. We'll spread the word and we'll be here bright and early on Wednesday. It sounds to me like you men are the kind of bosses we need!" We ushered the delegation out the door with a lot of handshaking and backslapping. The place was dripping with good will.

After they were gone, I asked Jimmy, "Do you really think that you can turn this bunch into an adequate fighting force? They are just a bunch of farmers and shopkeepers."

Jimmy's answer was, "Who do you think founded this country back when it started? Give them a chance before you condemn them. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised. I'll bet just about every person within shouting distance will hear of my offer and will relay the message. On top of that, I expect every one who can will be here on Wednesday morning. They've been bamboozled and mistreated long enough, and now they are ready to fight back.

I was still a little dubious, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

People had started to arrive before daylight on Wednesday morning! There was a county fair and party atmosphere among all of the people who showed up. Every family, yes, family, was there. The rest of Ochnee was like a ghost town. I wouldn't doubt but what we had people show up from neighboring fiefdoms, hoping to be absorbed into the new political entity we were trying to create. If this went well, Jimmy was sure that we would soon have the most powerful military force in Florida!

We were going to keep our ultimate aims quiet for the time being and concentrate on building an effective military force. Then we would broach the idea of a limited democracy. Eventually, this would evolve into a fully working democracy, but that would probably take years.

John Mason had a small dais built to serve as a speaker's platform, and precisely at 10:00 AM, Jimmy and I mounted the platform to thunderous applause. I just hoped that the people could keep that enthusiasm through the coming weeks and months.

Jimmy spoke, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to see so many of you turn out on this fine day. This is a time for fun, but it is a time for serious business. Let's take care of the business, first. We are here to form a militia. We don't have enough guns, yet for them to be issued to everybody, but we will start working on that as soon as we know how many we have to supply.

"The idea is that we will organize much like the 'Minute Men' who fought in the first battles for our country. They kept their guns and ammunition at home. As soon as the call went out to assemble, in a minute, they dropped whatever they were doing and met to fight the enemy, no matter how powerful he was, and they WON!

"That's what we want to do. You keep your gun at home so that you can defend yourself as you need to, but you are also ready to form an army of citizen soldiers who will fight as a group to defend the whole community. Are you with me?"

Thunderous applause, shouting, and whistles were his answer. At least for now, everybody was a member of the team.

"We only have 36 guns to issue right now, so they will have to go only one to a family. But soon we will have enough guns for every member of the militia to have either a pistol or an AK-74." More cheering drowned out his next words, so Jimmy let the noise die down before he resumed his remarks.

With a huge grin, he said, "I was going to say, before I was so happily interrupted, that eventually ever member of the militia will receive both an AK-74 and a pistol." More cheering. This was going to take a while.

"We are not going to waste money on uniforms, so every militia member will have to furnish his own clothes, but we need a way to tell friend from foe, so all militia members will wear a white armband on his left arm. Please be careful and don't shoot at somebody with a white armband until further notice." Cheers and laughter, this time.

"Now, down to the actual business. We are going to have to be very choosy at first, so I would like for every person, man or woman, who wants to be in the militia to form a line across in front of me so I can get a count of the total potential number of people to have in the militia. Please line up now, the order is not important."

There was a lot of milling around, but eventually we had such a long line that they had to form two ranks. There was a total of 177 people of all ages and genders in that line! I was impressed. Even Mary Arbuckle was in the line.

Jimmy said, "OK, that's wonderful! Now, we need one person from each family to form a line. It would help if that person was the most able bodied member of the family. That could make a difference if we had to fight before we have our full complement of guns. OK, now, one person per family, please."

More milling around as people formed a new line and the rest retreated to the audience. They were surprisingly orderly, everything considered. When the new line formed, there were 62 people in the line. Most of them were men, but there were a few women.

Jimmy stayed on the dais while I went down to the line to talk to each of the volunteers. There were a few who were not really committed, but were there just because of peer pressure. Those I eliminated from the first group quickly and easily. That left 53 people who looked like they were prime candidates.